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RIGHTS-US: Protesters Seek U.N. Help on Police Abuses

Haider Rizvi

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 30 2007 (IPS) - Discouraged in their efforts to seek justice in cases of police brutality, which activists say have often involved extra-judicial killings of innocent Black and Latino youth, some rights groups based in the United States are now looking to the United Nations for help.

Marching in front of the world body’s headquarters on a mercilessly cold and windy evening Monday, protesters called for the international community to take serious note of ongoing human rights violations in the United States.

“We are here in front of the U.N. because our communities are facing police attacks every single day,” Amadi Ajamu, a leader of the December 12th Movement, a rights group campaigning against the targeting of minority youth, told IPS.

In addition to carrying placards and banners, Ajamu and others displayed black-and-white pictures of dozens of young Black and Latino men who lost their lives as a result of indiscriminate police shootings in the past few years.

“No more police state,” they shouted in unison whenever a diplomat was seen coming in or out of the U.N. building. “We will fight for our human rights by any means necessary.”

Activists said they were compelled to turn to the U.N. for assistance because authorities in many U.S. cities have failed to check “racist” police behaviour, which deprives minority youth of fundamental human rights.

Though Monday’s rally was part of the ongoing protests against the killing of Sean Bell, an unarmed 23-year-old African American man who was shot numerous times by local New York police last month, organisers said their demonstration was not just confined to one incident.

“We are protesting against all the police killings of our brothers that have taken place in the past several years,” said one demonstrator. “We cannot tolerate it any more.”

A 1998 report by Human Rights Watch said that “Abuse by law enforcement officers in the United States is one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in the countryà[and includes] unjustified shootings, severe beatings, fatal chokings, and unnecessarily rough treatment.”

Many at the event described Bell’s killing as another manifestation of the racist police attitude towards Black and Latino youth. As one of them said, “It is deeply rooted in the historical bias of the European settlers towards Blacks, the natives, and other communities of colour.”

Bell, who was shot 51 times, was supposed to attend his marriage ceremony mere hours after he breathed his last.

At the rally, some human rights lawyers saw a pattern of consistent failure on part of the U.S. government in protecting minorities from the police abuse and excesses, and that it was time for the world community to intervene.

“The U.N. is supposed to address the human rights abuses being committed by its member states,” Roger Wareham, an African-American lawyer, told IPS. “It must look into such killings because they are the result of racist policies.”

Wareham and other protesters said they want regular monitoring by a U.N. rapporteur of the violations of minority rights in the United States, especially those related to racism, extra-judicial killings and torture of Black and Latino youth.

“They should come and see what is going on here and what steps need to be taken to end it,” Wareham said.

In the past few months, various U.N. reports on human rights have criticised the U.S. for its failings in observing international standards, notably in the pursuit of its “war on terror”.

And though the U.S. has signed and ratified the U.N. treaty on the elimination of racial discrimination, it continues to shy away from signing a number of other international agreements on rights.

Convinced that bringing the U.S. back into the realm of international norms of morality is vital to ensuring human rights at home, some grassroots groups are now pushing Washington to embrace all the human rights treaties.

One such treaty is the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The only country in the entire world that has not ratified this treaty other than the United States is Somalia.

“It’s time for us to move beyond the idea that the U.S. is an exception,” Alan Jenkins, executive director of Opportunity Agenda, a research and advocacy group based in New York, told IPS in an interview.

Jenkins, a former director at the Ford Foundation, who is now leading a national campaign called “Bringing Human Rights Home,” said he did not understand why the U.S. would not sign the treaty on the rights of the child.

The U.S. had refused to be part of the treaty because it does not allow the execution of children. Critics say that since the U.S. Supreme Court has held executions of those who commoitted their crimes before the age of 18 to be unconstitutional, the U.S. has no longer has reason not to sign the treaty.

“The U.S. has always tried to push other nations to take human rights seriously,” said Jenkins. “Yet it has not only failed to ratify, but also opposed some key treaties.”

Despite strong pressure from women’s groups, Washington has also maintained its opposition to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Described by human rights experts as the international “bill of rights,” this treaty has been endorsed by more than 170 countries.

In addition, Washington has rejected the treaty that created the International Criminal Court (ICC). This landmark human rights treaty deals with prosecuting cases of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

Jenkins believes that these and other human rights agreements, when applied “through the lens of our own constitution, laws and values,” could help U.S. citizens move closer to the ideals of justice and opportunity.

“We need to bring human rights home,” he said, adding that the new Congress, which is now controlled by the opposition Democratic Party, “can make a difference by ratifying outstanding treaties without significant reservations.”